Se reconocieron taxonomicamente los insectos y los acaros del guayabo, Psidium guajava L., en plantaciones comerciales de los municipios Mara, Paez, La Canada de Urdaneta, Jesus Enrique Lossada, Miranda y Sucre del estado Zulia, Venezuela, de marzo de 2000 a julio de 2001. Los especimenes se capturaron con redes entomologicas, succionadores y frascos con acetato de etilo, luego se identificaron y preservaron en el Museo de Artropodos de La Universidad del Zulia (MALUZ). Hojas, flores, frutos y ramas con los insectos inmaduros y acaros fueron traidos al laboratorio para cria y observacion. Se identificaron 47 especies de insectos y 8 de acaros, de los cuales 29 son nuevos reportes para la zona de estudio y 25 para Venezuela. Se encontraron 44 especies fitofagas, 10 depredadoras y 1 parasitoide. Las especies fitofagas mas comunes fueron: Anastrepha striata Schiner, A. obliqua Macquart, A. fraterculus (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae); Capulinia sp. cercana a jaboticabae von Ihering (Homoptera: Eriococcidae); Veneza zonata (Pallas), Fabrictilis gonagra (Fabricius) (Hemiptera: Coreidae); Liothrips similis Bagnall (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae); Selenothrips rubrocinctus (Giard) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) y Brevipalpus phoenicis (Geijskes) (Prostigmata: Tenuipalpidae). Los depredadores mas comunes fueron 8 especies de la familia Coccinellidae, una chinche de la familia Anthocoridae y Chrysoperla sp. (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae).
Irwin mango variety gives high production under the Maracaibo´s plain agroclimatic conditions, but the fruits have some
malformation attributed to a physiological factor not known, there so far there is no effective treatment to prevent it or treat
it, limits the performance of the plant. In this sense, argue the use of management techniques agronomic in order to reduce
the percentage of malformed fruits and produce quality fruit in optimal conditions. The study was conducted at the
Socialist's Research Centre and Developing Fruit and Apiculture (CORPOZULIA) of Zulia state, located in the Northwest
of the State of Zulia, characterized as very dry tropical forest. Trees were selected Irwin variety range of 11-year-old,
planted in a framework 10 m x 10 m. The treatments applied were: fruits thinning + KNO3 8% (T1) non fruits thinning +
KNO3 8% (T2) non floral induction + fruits thinning (T3) and no thinning fruits, no floral induction (T4). Variables evaluated
were % of malformed fruits, number and weight of fruits per plant, average fruit weight, yield index and production
efficiency and characteristics of physicochemical quality of the fruit. The results showed that fruit thinning reduced the
number of malformed fruits in the variety of mango Irwin. Potassium nitrate increased fruit yield per plant and animal
performance, but the highest values were achieved when combined with the thinning of fruit. The fruit thinning increased
average fruit weight and percentage of fruit pulp and decreased the percentages of shell and seed. Thinning of fruits and
Potassium nitrate did not greatly affect the chemical characteristics of the fruit, only degrees Brix, were affected. The results
indicate that the practices of thinning of fruit and floral induction can improve performance and quality of fruit.